Journal of Pure and Applied Chemistry Research (Oct 2012)
The Chemical Composition and Physical Properties of the Light and Heavy Tar Resulted from Coconut Shell Pyrolysis
Abstract
The tar resulted from pyrolysis of coconut shell is a waste. It is important to be clarified their chemical composition and physical properties in order to find out their feasibility as source of a fuel. This research was resulted two immiscible organic fractions, and these were further determined their physical properties such as water composition by using ASTM D-95 methods, ash composition (ASTM D-482), flash point C.O.C (ASTM D-92), kinematics of viscosity (ASTM D-445), and caloric valued using bomb calorimetric. In addition, tar composition was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS). The result provided oil which was categorized as light and heavy bio-oils. The light bio-oil has specific gravity 0.99, ash content 0.01%, kinematics viscosity 25.5 cSt, flash point <27 oC, pH 3 and heating value 10304 kcal/kg. On the other hand, heavy bio- oils gave specific gravity 1.13, ash 0.46%, kinematics viscosity 185 cSt, flash point 134 oC, pH 2.5 and heating value 6210 kcal/kg. Moreover, the light bio-oil contained 79 compounds which was composed of phenol 16.4%, hydrocarbon 12.4%, phenolic 27.6%, other oxygenated compounds 53.6%, and acetic acid 3%, meanwhile the heavy bio-oils contained of 18 compounds which was consisted of phenol 31.2%, lauric acid 6.0%, phenolic 27.6%, and other oxygenated compounds 35.3%, respectively. With this result, it was clarify that these bio-oils could not be used directly as a fuel for motor nor diesel machinery.
